2021 Annual Review by Garsington Opera

2021 REVIEW

Cover: Miah Persson (Der Rosenkavalier, 2021) Inside Cover: Sonja Runje (Amadigi, 2021) Photo credits: Clive Barda, Craig Fuller, Julian Guidera, Johnny Langridge, Johan Persson, Stephen Wright

OUR AIMS

ENRICH the lives of audiences and participants

PRODUCE theatrically compelling productions with the highest artistic standards

EXPAND appreciation of opera through participation and digital work

DISCOVER and nurture the best young performing talent

PROVIDE an exceptional experience for members and audiences at Wormsley

BUILD ON ﬁnancial stability to support future productions and infrastructure

DER ROSENKAVALIER

Richard Strauss

Conductor: Jordan de Souza

Director: Bruno Ravella

EUGENE ONEGIN

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Conductor: Douglas Boyd

Director: Michael Boyd

AMADIGI

George Frideric Handel

Conductor: Christian Curnyn

Director: Netia Jones

LE COMTE ORY

Gioachino Rossini

Conductor: Valentina Peleggi

Director: Cal McCrystal

ARTISTIC REVIEW

The return to live performance in 2021 was both emotional and challenging as we presented some of our most ambitious work to date whilst making the necessary accommodations to keep audiences and performers safe.

While the auditorium was at reduced capacity for much of the summer, the joy of a return to musicmaking for a live audience was extraordinary. Three new productions and a celebrated revival, each of outstanding quality, made for a rewarding and memorable season.

Garsington continues its artistic ascent with this new production of Der Rosenkavalier

★★★★★ The Stage

] as lush as you could possibly want in Tchaikovsky’s glorious score

The Arts Desk

Handel's magic opera [Amadigi] casts its spell

★★★★ The Times

Garsington’s [Le Comte Ory is] seasoned with surrealist sparkle and an infectious joie de vivre

Bachtrack

Andrea Carroll (Le Comte Ory, 2021)

LEARNING & PARTICIPATION

Encouraging understanding and welcoming participation is at the core of what we do at Garsington Opera, and creating opportunity drives our learning and participation programme.

The return to in-person activity with local schools and community groups during 2021 has been intensely rewarding for all involved. Garsington Opera’s two community companies returned to much missed in-person performing, with several members of the youth company completing the Arts Award, a nationally recognised award championing skills in arts leadership.

The pivot towards digital programmes in 2020 was developed out of necessity but has given rise to lasting innovations growing our reach and impact. GO Create is a valuable online resource developed in partnership with the Rothschild Foundation. The programme, aimed at demystifying opera for children aged 11-16, is having a transformative impact in Buckinghamshire schools and other neighbouring areas. Plans are in place to roll out participation in GO Create programmes to beneﬁt young people in many more communities throughout the UK.

ARTISTS’ PROGRAMME

The nurture and encouragement of young professional singers is proudly championed by Garsington Opera through the Alvarez Young Artists’ Programme. Each season we work closely with Conservatoires in the UK and further aﬁeld to select and showcase the ﬁnest young performing talent.

In 2021, the Alvarez Young Artists formed a company of 51 coached by Garsington Opera’s Head of Music Jonathon Cole-Swinard and Kate Golla (Repetiteur, Der Rosenkavalier). These talented singers make up the Garsington Opera chorus and the majority of Young Artists are invited to cover solo roles during the Festival as they forge their operatic careers and lasting ties with Garsington Opera.

The Alvarez Young Artists staged an outstanding performance of Eugene Onegin in July 2021. The audience included primary and secondary school children, who had taken part in OperaFirst workshops alongside several of the Young Artists. The performance brought with it a palpable warmth of connection between performers and audience members on their ﬁrst visit to Wormsley.

“I can barely put into words how wonderful my summer of working with Garsington Opera has been. I was thrilled to be invited to be a Young Artist, and it has put my feet on paths I could only ever have dreamed of.”

“Working this Summer at Garsington has given me a lot of hope for the future and survival of opera and all its workers during the pandemic, and I am extremely grateful to have been a part of it.”

GARSINGTON STUDIOS

In the summer of 2021, contractors Conamar were appointed to commence the ground-work, foundations, shell and core of Garsington’s most signiﬁcant investment for the future. The commitment of many generous donors has made it possible to proceed with conﬁdence with this ambitious, sustainable and innovative project. Three principal gifts have put the campaign within reach of its Phase 1 goal of £12 million by the end of 2022. It is exciting to see the ambitious scale of the project as the vision of award-winning local architects Nicholas Brown Webber begins to take shape.

The location of Garsington Studios, previously known as the Arts Hub, is close to the main entrance to Wormsley. The generous support of Mark Getty and his family, along with staﬀ at the estate is without parallel, extending to works on stage, learning and participation as well as providing the fabulous environment our audiences, members and artists enjoy.

Throughout its history, Garsington Opera has championed the best emerging talent alongside established artists. As artistic partnerships with the Philharmonia Orchestra and The English Concert deepen, so does the calibre of performance on the Garsington stage. The development of a company of rising talent nurtured through the Alvarez Young Artists programme adds to the verve and dynamism that attract world-class opera directors to Wormsley. The Studios bring the many strands of Garsington’s creative life together in a single stunning location. The 5,000m2 facility will house professional rehearsal studios to replicate the Garsington stage, a ﬂexible theatres space, training and

FINANCIAL REVIEW

2021 Income (£’000) 524 106 215 157 1,019 2,031 2,460 Box Office (tickets & donations) Fundraising & Membership Other Pandemic Support Corporate Sponsorship Learning & Participation Donations Other Restaurant, Shop & Other Sales 2021 Expenditure (£’000) 61 185 220 266 5,396 Opera Production Learning & Participation Shop & Other Sales Overheads & VAT Filming & Digital INCOME SOURCE 2021 Final (£’000) 2020 Final (£’000) 2019 Final (£’000) Box Office - Tickets & Donations 2,463 100 3,265 Fundraising & Membership 2,075 1,929 1,871 Other Pandemic Support 1,019 0 0% Learning & Participation Donations 240 162 231 Corporate Sponsorship 157 309 326 Restaurant, Shop & Other Sales 522 24 588 Legacy Donations - - 69 Other 112 94 110 Total Income 6,588 2,618 6,460 EXPENDITURE Opera Production 5402 2,074 5,086 Learning & Participation 298 275 276 Shop & Other Sales 178 27 254 Overheads & Irrecoverable VAT 204 216 195 Filming & Digital 58 57 102 Total Expenditure 6,140 2,649 5,913 Depreciation -408 (406) (389) Other income* 840 117 529 Surplus/Deficit (see Reserves Policy) excludes restricted capital donations & expenditure† 880 (320) 687

AUDIENCE FEEDBACK

“A perfect evening in every way.”

Excellent in terms of the quality of the productions, singing and the general organisation of the event in the di ﬃ cult circumstances of Covid.

We thought this season was one of, if not, the best seasons ever. The productions were magniﬁcent and the singing was superb. We are so lucky to be involved. A wonderful blend of energy, perception, humour, inventiveness, musical talents and skill.

For me, this was a pinnacle of operatic achievement.

We want to thank musicians, singers, designers, directors, volunteers, organisers: everyone involved in giving us such a memorable evening. Our guests were enchanted.

AUDIENCE REACH

In planning for the 2021 Season, we were able to move forward with conﬁdence, having learned how to be nimble in 2020. We therefore took a ﬂexible approach when we re-introduced fully-staged live performances for our audiences.

In Garsington Opera’s most ambitious schedule to date, four fully staged productions were presented in 2021 alongside our partners Philharmonia Orchestra and The English Concert. In line with COVID-19 restrictions, the company performed to socially distanced audiences of approximately 400 per night (dependant on seated groups), until 19 July 2021 when audience numbers increased to full capacity. Over the course of the season, a total audience number of 14,641 people attended performances.

Through our partnerships with BBC Radio 3 and OperaVision we were able to broadcast our new production of Der Rosenkavalier to international audiences, allowing us to keep in touch with our growing audiences across the globe. Garsington Opera’s digital series Music for the Eyes continued; during the lockdown in early 2021, we provided MiniMotivations - digital encouragement for school children engaged in remote learning with during the lockdowns in early 2021.